Toll of counterfeiting and piracy predicted to top $2.3 trillion as call made for governments to do more

Toll of counterfeiting and piracy predicted to top $2.3 trillion as call made for governments to do more

New research estimates that the global economic value of counterfeiting and piracy could reach $2.3 trillion by 2022, with job losses totalling in excess of 5 million. The research provides important data to policymakers. The challenge now is to ensure that they pay heed to it.

The report, The Economic Impacts of Counterfeiting and Piracy, was commissioned by the International Trademark Association (INTA) and ICC’s Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP), and conducted by research firm Frontier Economics. The study follows on from a previous study that BASCAP commissioned Frontier Economics to conduct in 2011.

That research estimated that the total global economic value of counterfeit and pirated goods was as much as $650 billion per year. Providing an updated picture, the new data suggests that, in 2013, the value of international and domestic trade in counterfeit and pirated goods was between $710 and $917 billion.

In addition, the global value of digital piracy in movies, music and software in 2015 was estimated as $213 billion ($160bn in film, $29bn in music and $24bn in software), bringing the total value of counterfeit and pirated goods as high as $1.13 trillion.

Further, it suggests that the outlook is gloomy, that number being expected to reach $2.3 trillion by 2022.